Saturday, 28 July 2012

Problems Downloading Mountain Lion

There have been several reports of people having problems downloading the latest vesion of the Mac OS - Moutain Lion. I've had the same problem myself with my own and other MacBooks, an iMac
and a MacMini.

There seem to be two discrete issues when it comes to downloading the upgrade. The first is an App store message that says:

"We could not complete your purchase. The product distribution file could not be verified. It may be damaged or was not signed."

It seems that this may be caused, at least in some cases, by Intego Virus Barrier X6. You will need to remove the antivirus completely, try the download again and now it should begin. If it does, reload your antivirus. DON"T FORGET THIS BIT!

The second issue happens when you are happily downloading the upgrade and it gets to 53.25 Mb and stalls.

This is bit harder to get to grips with, but here is the solution.

Although I am a domestic BT Broadband user, I have a BT 2-Wire
business hub which copes with the the dreadful rural telecoms
infrastructure in my neck of the woods. It seems that the 2-Wire is
the problem.

Following a lead I found on the internet,
I've just replaced the 2-Wire with a Netgear router and the problem has
gone away. The download is now well passed the 53.25 Mb level -
302.46Mb and counting.

Pity it is going to take an estimated 22 hours to complete the download though!

Bottom line. If you are a Mac using BT Broadband customer, with a 2-Wire BT Hub, running Intego Virus Barrier X6 - you are probably a very unhappy bunny at the moment - unless you have found your way here!

Non-UK readers may wish to know that the BT Business Hub is a 2-Wire 2700 HGV as shown at the top of the page!

16 comments:

:) That confirms my point, the issue is the BT Business Hub - business users have also reported the same problem. HomeHub 3, even though it is a fairly grotty and useless piece of kit compared to commercial offerings, at least didn't cause any problems for Mac users.

I've just spoken to Apple and was advised the issue could be with my BT router (didn't ask me what router I had though).

Opened a chat window to BT support and outlined the problem there and then. BT are aware of the issue and have said they will update the router firmware in the next 48 hours and let me know when it's done.

In true BT fashion, they are admitting there is an issue with the 2-Wire router on their business forum, but the same information is not available on their domestic forum. They are also indicating on their business forum that if you advise them of the serial number of your 2-Wire, they will get the provisioning server to fire off a firmware upgrade. The same offer isn't being mad to ALL users - which seems to me to be very short-sighted.

Perhaps they have been overwhelmed by yesterday's mega cock-up in their attempts to update their mail servers and software?

@PHarbord - you didn't say whether you were a domestic or business user?

Just rung BT who say they are sending out a 'new' router (basically a home version) which can be used to download Mountain Lion and then I can revert to the business hub. They say the makers of the 2-wire said they had the problem fixed but obviously not. They're currently sending out 400 hubs a day. Call them (in the UK) on 0800 800 154

I contacted them today, they admitted the problem and said that they're working on the solution. However, instead of sending out a new router, they will call me next week with the solution. This 2wire router always has issues such as this. Why, on a business contract, we get a sub-par router?

I think I would make two comments here. Firstly, I have to say that I rate the 2-Wire as one of the best routers that has ever been made. It holds on to sync in circumstances where most other routers just give up the ghost.

Second, BT have managed to screw up the firmware for the 2-Wire to such an extent that it has lost much of its potential usefulness - in the same way they have screws up just about every other router they have offered to domestic or business customers.

BT's philosophy seems to be that we, the customers, are complete idiots, not to be trusted to tweak the inner workings of a complex electrical device. So, the interface access has been downgraded to suit, as they seem to think, the average numpty in the street.

Unfortunately, most BT broadband with whom I have come into contact no a damn sight more about broadband than do most of those manning BT's helpdesks in Mumbai or the UK!

Well, I own my apologies to 2wire. I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to routers, but I'm no expert either. Yes, BT are a massive pain. I'll be finding an alternative solution when I move my office at the end of this year.

This issue is definitely down to the 2-wire router. . connected via alternative gateway and the problem was solved. I'm otherwise quite happy with the 2-wire as this is the first real problem in 18 months of use.